PRESS RELEASE
In light of the ruling of the Israeli High Court of Justice the battle against torture continues
Ref: 89/99
Date: 8 September 1999
While expressing its satisfaction at the ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice to ban torture methods used by interrogators of the General Security Service (GSS), PCHR expresses its deep concern over the encouragement implied in the ruling to the Israeli legislature (Knesset) to enact a law which may empower the GSS to employ physical means against Palestinian prisoners.
Such methods contradict international laws which prohibit torture and contradict Israel’s obligations as a state party to the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of 1984. In 1987, the very same year that the Convention came into force, a special Commission of Inquiry, headed by former president of the Israeli Supreme Court, Justice Moshe Landau, concluded that GSS interrogators were entitled to use moderate physical pressure against Palestinian detainees. This was considered to be, in practice, a legal cover for the use of torture methods. The UN Committee Against Torture concluded in 1998 that moderate physical pressure was tantamount to torture. The torture methods allowed by the Landau Commission Report included inter alia, the method of shaking, a method which has led to the death of a number of Palestinian prisoners. One of those prisoners was Abdel Samad Hraizat, who was transferred to hospital unconscious less than 24 hours after his arrest on 22 April 1996, and was pronounced dead on 25 April 1996.
For many years Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisations have criticised Israel for the use of torture methods by GSS interrogators. The struggle of these organisations against torture, by many different means and on different levels, led to a situation in which the issue of torture as practised in Israel became so scandalous in the international arena that the Israeli High Court of Justice could no longer avoid it. The contribution of the human rights community to this landmark ruling should not be underestimated. In particular, PCHR wants to express its appreciation to Israeli human rights organisations who were committed to human rights standards and acted effectively in this issue. This has been a process in which cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations played an important role.
On Monday, 6 September 1999, the High Court of Justice convened and issued its ruling on a number of applications submitted to the Court by human rights groups against the use of torture methods by GSS. The Court’s ruling prohibited the
employment of physical force by the GSS. Specific methods prohibited included shaking, shabeh, sleep deprivation, loud music and frog crouching.
“First, a reasonable investigation is necessarily one free of torture, free of cruel, inhuman treatment of the subject and free of any degrading handling whatsoever. … This conclusion is in perfect accords with (various) International Law treaties – to which Israel is a signatory – which prohibit the use of torture, ‘cruel, inhuman treatment’ and ‘degrading treatment’. … These provisions are ‘absolute’. There are no exceptions to them and there is no room for balancing.” (para 23)
It has been a long wait, and it is, of course satisfying to PCHR and all human rights organisations, that finally the Israeli High Court of Justice has ruled that the GSS is not authorised to employ torture methods in the course of interrogations. However, PCHR is deeply concerned about other aspects of the judgement, aspects which appear to contradict the findings of the Court in para 23 (above).
Despite finding, in the early part of the judgement, that the methods employed in the past by the GSS were illegal and contrary to both Israeli Basic Law and to the standards of international law (including the Convention Against Torture) the Court, later in its judgment, declined to take a stand on the legality of the use of physical force in “special circumstances” (such as the so-called ‘ticking bomb’). Rather, the Court decided that the GSS is not authorised according to Israeli law to use such methods. The focus of the judgment was on the question of whether or not GSS interrogators were authorised under law to employ these methods, rather than on the legality of the methods themselves.
“If the State wishes to enable GSS investigators to utilise physical means in interrogations, it must seek the enactment of legislation for this purpose.” (para 37)
Furthermore, in the conclusions of the ruling the Court said,
“If it will nonetheless be decided that it is appropriate for Israel, in light of its security difficulties to sanction physical means in interrogations this is an issue that must be decided by the legislative branch … we don’t take any stand on this matter at this time”. (para 39)
Accordingly the door was opened by the Court for the Legislature to enact a law that authorises the use of physical methods against Palestinian detainees. A possibility which the Court declined to take a position on, despite its own finding that such methods were contrary to both international law and Israeli Basic laws, without exception.
In light of the Court’s ruling PCHR emphasizes the following:
- While the Court’s decision represents a milestone in the battle against torture, the battle is not over. A lot of work is demanded from Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations as well as the international community at large, to ensure that the Israeli Knesset does not enact a law that empowers the GSS to employ physical force against Palestinian prisoners, even in exceptional
circumstances. According to international law, torture is prohibited in all circumstances, without exceptions.
- The judgment of the Court rules illegal interrogation methods which have been systematically used by the GSS against thousands of Palestinian prisoners throughout more than three decades. Thus confessions of Palestinian prisoners which resulted from the use of such methods are also invalid. Accordingly the State of Israel is required to review the files of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and retry them.
- The State of Israel is required to redress and compensate thousands of Palestinian prisoners who were subjected to torture methods in the past. Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisation need to make concerted efforts to see that this occurs.
- The Government of Israel should commit itself immediately to the ruling of the Court and ban all directives which admit the use of torture against Palestinian prisoners. The recommendations of the Landau Commission of 1987 should also be abandoned
- All those who were involved in the practice of torture methods, whether as the direct perpetrators, those who gave directives or those who sanctioned the practice at the executive level, must be held accountable for their involvement in these illegal acts.
- Finally, PCHR reiterates its appreciation of the work of Israeli human rights organisations on this issue. The commitment and effective work of those organisations, as well as the constructive cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations played an important role in bringing about this ruling.
For More Information Contact:
Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Tel/Fax: (+) 9727 2824776 / 2823725
E-mail: pchr@trendline.co.il, Web-page: www.pchrgaza.org
